gameofthronesfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Battle of the Iron Islands
The Battle of the Iron Islands'','' historically also called the Clash of Krakens or the Greyjoy Civil War, was a massive four-day battle late into the War of the Five Kings, more accurately during the War of Dragons between King Aegon VI Targaryen and Queen Daenerys I Targaryen. Second only to the Battle of King's Landing, it is the largest battle in the War of Dragons. It was a battle in which Lord Taladon Greyjoy and Asha Greyjoy command the Red Fleet of King Aegon against the Iron Fleet under the command of King Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, and the result was Euron's death and the coronation of Taladon as King of the Iron Islands. It suffered massive iroborn casualties when combined and was one of the closing battles of the War of Dragons. The battle ultimately ended with the famous duel between Taladon and Euron, one of the most popularly-discussed duels of the war. History Prelude With the death of King Balon Greyjoy, the King of the Iron Islands, and a tense kingsmoot in which Euron Greyjoy emerged victorious as the oldest surviving sibling of Balon's. Meanwhile, Ser Taladon Greyjoy the Sharkslayer, who was previously hunted by Euron, fled from the Iron Islands. He, along with his lover Lerela, sailed to Dorne, where they hid out, until Prince Doran Martell procured Taladon with the ancestral sword of House Greyjoy, Winterthorn, at which point Lerela turned on Taladon, revealed to be a spy for Euron. In the ensuing fight, Lerela was killed and Taladon was presumed dead also, but in fact he survived with severe wounds. Travelling to Essos, Taladon meets with the exiled King Aegon VI Targaryen, the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen of Dragonstone. Joining Aegon in his bid to retake the Seven Kingdoms, Taladon conquered Dragonstone and sailed around the Seven Kingdoms, amassing the Red Fleet in order to face his uncle. Meanwhile, King Euron Greyjoy receives a mocking threat in the form of Lerela's corpse on a bed of crows, obviously from Taladon to let him know he is still alive. Euron sends several assassins after Taladon, but none of them are successful either because his location was misplaced or because Taladon killed the assassins. Euron gathers his allies from all of the Iron Islands and the conquered seats that Euron has taken in his war against the Seven Kingdoms. He also smuggles caches of wildfire from camps in Valyria and Lys, gathering it to prepare for a siege. Euron sends away Victarion Greyjoy to treat with Daenerys Targaryen, thus removing him from the combat unintentionally. Taladon rescues his cousins Asha and Theon Greyjoy from Stannis Baratheon, who swears fealty to Aegon and goes along to conquer Winterfell for Taladon. In the ensuing Battle of Winterfell, Stannis breaks his opponent, killing Roose and Ramsay Bolton and liberating the castle. The sail to the Iron Islands. Battle After an unsuccessful parley between Aeron and Taladon, during which Taladon persuades Aeron to join them, after Taladon points out that Euron isn't as much of an ironborn as he says he is. the Battle of the Iron Islands commences. A massive naval war ensues over three days, during which the Iron Fleet is smashed at Blacktyde and gathers an armada against the Red Fleet. Taladon uses his kraken to destroy a great many of the ships, including the Silence, during which he assumes that Euron has been killed during the shipwrecking. Several ships try to take the King Balon's Wrath, and Taladon and his crew fight them off ferociously, with Taladon wielding Winterthorn against his enemies. Great Wyk and Ormont are broken by the Red Fleet, and Taladon liberates the noble houses of those islands, making the Red Fleet considerably larger than it originally was. The Red Fleet hones in on Pyke, only for Euron to reveal a wildfire trap that he has set around Pyke, destroying a large amount of the ships in the Red Fleet. Ser Bracken and Ser Martell of the Bloodguard are killed in the explosions and Taladon orders his kraken to immediately sink his burning ships before they compromise the progress of his surviving ships. Pyke is sieged after the trap is navigated, and Taladon and Asha lead a charge against Euron's surviving men. Asha cuts a path for her cousin, so that he can penetrate Pyke. She is faced with several secret cells of Euron's men, and is separated from Taladon as they surround her. Asha battles these men, and in the meantime Theon leads a sortie of ships against Harlaw, shattering Euron's men but taking several arrows in the process and being forced to depart the battle to recover. Taladon's kraken smashes several of the ships in the Iron Fleet, forcing them all to abandon their ships to survive, while many of the sailors try to fight off the kraken as a thunderstorm begins. The sea battle intensifies as several more wildfire traps are set off, levelling the Red Fleet by a small amount. Theon is nearly killed when his ship is damaged by a wildfire barrel, but he is pulled from the wreckage by Asha as his ship shatters against the harbour of Pyke. Theon, his wounds compromised by the shipwreck, narrowly survives decompression sickness, during which Asha offers to reconcile with him. She carries Theon away, while Aeron actually enters the fight and beats off Asha's opponents with a staff. The Red Fleet finally amasses against Pyke, completely destroying the Iron Fleet and landing, taking no prisoners in Euron's men, who all fight furiously to escape and stow away on any ship they can find. Asha sees Taladon's kraken swimming around after several of Euron's fleeing ironmen and marvels at the power of the creature that is their sigil. Taladon gathers his Bloodguard together and they lead a charge against Pyke castle, determined to liberate the castle once and for all to end the battle. Endgame Taladon and the Bloodguard charge into Pyke castle, where Euron and his Ironguard confront them. Euron manages to wound his nephew with a crossbow, and the two of them confront one another in a tense standoff. Surprisingly, Taladon tries to treat with Euron, but this conversation rapidly turns into the two of them trading vicious barbs with one another about the wounds they have dealt each other since they met, and Taladon points out Euron's inconsistencies as an ironborn, angering him. Confident that the Seastone Chair is his right because of his status as the eldest of Balon Greyjoy's siblings and the fact that he had triumphed in the Kingsmoot, Euron uses his status as Balon's brother as ammunition, but is gunned down when Taladon points out the elements of the line of succession that oppose Euron's claim - the only thing that held back his opposition was the status and reputation of his truer opponents. Seeing that neither of them seem able to reach common ground, Taladon and Euron put up their swords. The two of them charge, with the Bloodguard and the Ironguard at their backs. A chaotic swordfight breaks out between the uncle and nephew, which progresses from the rope bridge into the Great Keep, where it evolves into a frenzied clash between the Bloodguard and the Ironguard. By the end of it, the Ironguard and the Bloodguard are all dead and several of Pyke's inhabitants either flee or gather to watch the fight. The swordfight runs through Pyke's halls, damaging several places with the intensity of the battle. Taladon's determination compensates for him only having one hand to fight with, the other being replaced by a hook, but Euron is already physically extremely strong for his age and build and is a more experienced and wild opponent. Very soon, the fight progresses into the hall of the Seastone Chair. The two men taunt one another heatedly, during which Taladon's mockery brings Euron into a black rage and overpowers Taladon, severely wounding him. Euron beats his nephew, but Taladon outpaces him and routes around the Seastone Chair, coming up behind him, smashing his shoulder blade with his hook and then stabbing him in the heart through his back. Euron's armour splits under the Valyrian steel, so Taladon has dealt a mortal blow to his uncle. Taladon coldly asks for Euron to greet Balon for him, to which Euron uses his last energies to remove his eyepatch and dare Taladon to look him in the eye, before Euron falls to the ground and dies. Aftermath Euron Greyjoy's corpse is presented by Taladon to the survivors of the battle, which causes the Red Fleet to acclaim the victory by raising their weapons and triumphantly chanting Taladon! Taladon! Taladon!, announcing Taladon to be the hero of the battle for killing Euron. Out of Taladon's original force of 25,000 men, over 14,000 have been killed in overcoming the Iron Fleet alone, with less than 3,000 lost taking the islands themselves. Less than half of the Red Fleet was lost in the battle. The majority of the Iron Fleet under Euron was smashed by the combat, with 24,000 ironborn warriors killed, as well as the entirety of House Mallister's troops given to Euron. Thus, the Red Fleet suffered great losses in fighting against Euron Greyjoy, but they have succeeded in defeating him. Taladon goes to King's Landing soon afterwards, and he is crowned King of the Iron Islands, Lord Reaper of Pyke, Son of the Sea Wind, Hero of Dragonstone, King of Salt and Rock and Saviour of the Iron Islands, among other titles. The Iron Islands are made an independent, but not feudal, kingdom of their own with territories in several other islands, and with Taladon as their king and Asha as his Hand, Taladon plans to abolish reaving, pillaging and raping as the custom of the ironborn, knowing full well that their drive to try and conquer lands for their own on their own has done nothing but cause massive trouble for them. It had destabalised the Greyjoys during a futile rebellion against Robert Baratheon, and in another costly charge against the Seven Kingdoms. Category:Events Category:Wars